Author: Rezwan

Gaurav at The Undercover Indian Blog asks “what is Indian culture” while discussing the onslaught of bollywood culture, which is “beamed into every Indian house”.

Sowmya Suryanarayanan at Strategic Foresight opines that the lack of freshwater resources in Bangladesh “is a massive threat and will remain a primary reason for cross border migration in the future.”

Serendipity opines on the impending general elections in Sri Lanka.

South Asia Fair informs that Indian news channels and media “have decided to boycott the 3rd edition of the Indian Premier League 2010 after both parties failed to reach a consensus for their differences.”

Canadian filmmakers Sébastien Rist and Aude Leroux-Lévesque writes in their blog about the making of “Call Me Salma”, a documentary on a Bangladeshi trans-gender teenager. Here is a trailer of the documentary.

“We should have had 3G services in India 3-4 years ago. But we took a detour to giving more 2.5G licenses since that could enrich the powers that make decisions by a few billion dollars,” informs Indian blogger and entrepreneur Rajesh Jain.

“Will the World Bank indirectly support web censorship in Sri Lanka?” asks Sanjana Hattotuwa at ICT For Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) blog.

Jehan Ara, a Pakistani entrepreneur and blogger who writes at In The Line Of Wire, is visiting Mumbai and shares her reactions.

“When India suffers, Nepalis share the pain” says United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal. The blog talks about the recent terror attack in German Bakery in Pune, India, where approximately 70 Nepalis used to work.

Caroline At India Climate Solutions writes about some “creative and passionate individuals committed to changing the waste cycle” in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh in India.

Marvi Sirmed at Baaghi discusses about the ongoing standoff between the judiciary and the executive and urges Pakistanis to keep their sanity intact and let the reason prevail.

Drew Kinder posts an encouraging story of Champika, an agricultural entrepreneur in the Kurenegala Distirict of central Sri Lanka, who availed collateral free micro-loan from BRAC and succeeded in achieving financial independence.

Prerna at I Love Life.. So I Explore discusses about the phenomenon of the lack of civic sense of Indians inside the country as some make public nuisances completely ignoring the law.

Soliloquies Of An Opinionated Mind reviews Kavi, a 19 minute fictional short film (in Hindi), which was recently nominated in the best live action short film category at the 2010 Academy Awards. “Will Kavi be the next Slumdog Millionaire?” – asks the blogger.

“Political cannibalism must cease in Sril Lanka” – asserts Dayan Jayatilleka while discussing the arrest of Sri Lankan opposition leader Sarath Fonseka at Groundviews.

“Pakistan is the most well kept secret golfing destination as it has some of the most spectacular courses that are open year round,” – informs Imran H. Khan at All Things Pakistan.

Mumbai Metblogs announces the BlogCamp Mumbai 2010 which will be held on Saturday, February 20, 2010.

In the aftermath of the terror attack in Pune The Filter Coffee and Pragmatic Euphony discuss how India should respond.

Image courtesy http://twitpic.com/photos/abhi_bol

At around 7:30 pm on Saturday (February 13, 2010) a bomb blast at a restaurant popular with tourists in India's western city of Pune killed 9 people and left 57 people injured. The bomb was in a backpack and it exploded when an waiter tried to inspect the left luggage. Shashi Bellamkonda at My Digital Thoughts reports:

A few hours ago (Feb 13th 2010) a bomb went off popular cafe ‘German Bakery” in Pune India. At the time of posting this the press were reporting that 8 people had died and about 40 injured in this blast which left the bodies charred beyond recognition. The bakery is a popular spot with foreign tourists.

Shashi has also these observations:

• This comes a day after both India and Pakistan agreed to resume talks that had been halted since the Mumbai attacks in 2008. ( 14 months ago )
• David Headley currently in a Chicago jail had visited Pune to surveyed the Osho Ashram near the blast site
• The blast site is near the Pune Chabad house and the Mumbai Chabad House was a  target in the 26/11 attacks in 2008.
• The blast area is near the Osho Ashram frequented by tourists another similarity to the Mumbai 2008 blasts.

Pragmatic Euphony warns:

The jehadis have struck again on the Indian mainland; this time in Pune, albeit more than a year after the horrendous terror attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. The initial response, while going with the most plausible and popular assumption that the blast was the handiwork of Pakistan based jehadi groups, is one of indignation. Perhaps understandably so as tempers are bound to run high. And this emotion is likely to be further amplified as the Indian mainstream media hyperventilates and virtually runs amok with its over the top coverage of the incident.

People are already finding links to Pakistan. Offstumped informs that the Pune blast followed a Laskar-e-Taiba threat. A top leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba named Pune as a target city at a permitted public rally in Pakistan. The Acorn says:

Despite the Lashkar-e-Taiba threat, it is too early to definitively attribute the attack to the Pakistani military-jihadi complex. But it is clear that the Pakistani military-jihadi complex has every reason to escalate tensions with India through the use of terrorism. Without the excuse of “tensions to the east”, Pakistan would have nothing left to explain to Washington its double-dealing on the taliban.

Dilip D'Souza at Death Ends Fun reminds that India should also do something about the homegrown terror:

Until we recognize homegrown terror for what it is — no less than anything from abroad — and until we stand against every kind of terror, we will never defeat terrorism.

The Twittersphere was abuzz with tweets and retweets spreading the news. Here are some of the reactions:

IndiaHappening: Nine killed, 32 hurt in Pune terror blast http://bit.ly/arLssZ #India

r_shekhawat: Terror strikes at my home – ‘Pune' : Once again, innocent people killed by some mindless terrorists. Pune, a great city, hurt and bruised.

pragmatic_rebel: Must be a sad start to Valentine's day in #Pune! Still aghast at the blasts, I wish #India does something really different this time.

bhuvan_chelsea: We need a vigilante like Batman here in #India . 😉

tweetSAMRAT: Is praying for the victims of the recent Pune bomb blast.

nehasasi: RT @deepitganjoo: Please RT This Jahangir Hospital Pune Needs Blood AB+ve and B+ve Contact : 1066 Those who are in Pune…. Please

_india_: Pune blast casts shadow on talks with Pak

No doubt the blast in Pune will impact the recent goodwill talks between India and Pakistan. But it seems that the terrorists are being given the upper hand as emotions are running high everywhere.

Hamza Ahmad Qureshi and Momekh at Lahore Metblogs writes on the 2005 kite-flying ban in Pakistan and discusses the silly reasons cited to justify the ban. In many parts of Pakistan, especially in Lahore, traditionally people used to celebrate the Basant (spring) festival by flying kites.